Chirps from Center Ice

A fan blog about the AHL's Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

GAMEDAY: @ Syracuse 2/24

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: @ Syracuse 2/24 Posted by on February 24, 2018

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Who: Syracuse Crunch

Where: Onondaga County War Memorial Arena

When: 7:00 p.m.

Last Game: Last night at home against the Rockford IceHogs in their first ever meeting, the Penguins won 6-3. Six different Penguins recorded a goal and Ethan Prow assisted on three of those goals. For Syracuse, the Crunch beat the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 2-1 Friday night. Eddie Pasquale stopped 31 of 32 Phantoms shots and Michael Bournival scored both Syracuse goals.

Last Meeting: November 25 in Wilkes-Barre, the Penguins lost 4-3. The Crunch scored twice in the first and second periods and held off the Penguins hard charge in the third to narrowly defeat the Penguins.

Record: For WBS: 31-15-4-1 (67 pts., 2nd place Atlantic Division) // For SYR: 32-18-2-3 (69 pts., 2nd place North Division)

Referee(s): Keith Kaval / Michael Mullen

Linesmen: Jason Brown / Michael Fusani

Why You Should Care: Syracuse presents another challenge for the Penguins tonight. A Crunch team that has ebbed and flowed and kept its head above water in a top heavy yet competitive North Division. The Crunch took down the Lehigh Valley Phantoms last night and will be looking to do the same thing to the Penguins tonight. If Wilkes-Barre plays the way that they did last night against Rockford, that is very disciplined, few penalties and help from all parts of the lineup, then it should be a close game that hopefully the Penguins are good enough to win.

Other Game to Watch: Hershey has won five in a row. They return home to play the Rockford IceHogs. Bears are in town Sunday afternoon.

Next Five Games: vs. HER 2/25, @ GR 3/2, @ RFD 3/3, @ MIL 3/4, @ BNG 3/9

Gameday

Prow’d To Be a Penguin — Pens WIN 6-3

1 Comment Posted by on February 23, 2018

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Ethan Prow is slowly rounding into form as a defenseman that you can count on for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

With the injuries that always happen at this time of year, Prow has been pressed into work for the Penguins and he has capably handled the load for the team, quarterbacking the power play units and chipping in here and there.

That here and there was in the form of a three assist night as Prow and the Penguins overpower the Rockford IceHogs 6-3 in the first ever meeting between the two teams.

It was a reversal of fortune for the Penguins who were obliterated last weekend in Rochester 12-3, then scrapped with a pesky Utica team to an overtime loss Saturday then totally shut down against a Lehigh Valley team 4-1 in Allentown last Sunday. Six different Penguins scored goals tonight. With Prow, Tom Kostopoulos, returning from injury, playing in his 700th AHL game, had two assists and Daniel Sprong had a goal and an assist as well. Prow led the way with three points.

News of the night is the trade that Pittsburgh made with two other teams. The Penguins sent Ryan Reaves to Vegas in exchange for Tobias Lindberg and Ian Cole to Ottawa for Derrick Brassard and Vincent Dunn. Picks were also involved and the Penguins also part ways with Filip Gutsavsson, which makes the Anthony Peters signing inclusive of next season more clearer now.

It is not yet know what will happen with Dunn and Lindberg. Tom had this…

Lindberg is tenth on the Chicago Wolves in points with 18 (8-10-18) – Dunn is a scrapper type, bounced between AHL and ECHL. They could report here and play or be pawns in another trade that Jim Rutherford and the Pens have cooking. I think that the Pens are done, personally. The talk all along was a center for Pittsburgh, and they have their guy in Brassard. They are also at or near the salary cap, so unless other prospects move, Rutherford may be done well before the trade deadline.

Stay tuned, I guess.

OK, so Casey DeSmith opposed Jeff Glass tonight in Wilkes-Barre.

Lines were…

Thomas Di Pauli – J-S Dea – Reid Gardiner
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Greg McKegg – Joseph Cramarossa
Adam Johnson – Teddy Blueger – Daniel Sprong

Kevin Spinozzi – Ethan Prow
Jeff Taylor – Kevin Czuczman
Jarred Tinordi – Kevin Schulze

Casey DeSmith – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: Tom Kostopoulos and Tom Sestito both returned from injury. Kostopoulos played in his 700th AHL game. Teddy Bleuger was back also and Kevin Schulze made his Penguins debut.

First Period: Joseph Cramarossa pounded home a rebound left by Glass off a shot from Prow early and it was 1-0 Penguins…

On a power play, Daniel Sprong picked a corner with Kostopoulos setting a screen and it was 2-0 Penguins…

Rockford got its right back when John Hayden put a shot on from the far wall that Tyler Sikura deflected in that cut the Penguins lead to one.

Penguins would quickly reestablish their two goal lead when Kevin Czuczman puts a shot or pass towards the net that defects off of a Rockford stick right to Gage Quinney who loads up and scores to make it 3-1 heading into the….

Second Period: Casey DeSmith had a fine game for himself which will probably be lost amongst the trade news and the game that Prow had. On one Rockford power play, DeSmith made save after save to keep the game a two goal cushion for his side.

Garrett Wilson would score off of a face-off play with Teddy Blueger screening in front to make it 4-1…

Third Period: Adam Johnson scored with ex-Penguin Adam Clendening draping him like a cheap suit to make it 5-1 Penguins…

Reid Gardiner would get in on the scoring action off a nice feed form Thomas DiPauli to put home his first of the season for Wilkes-Barre that turned it into a laugher. 6-1 Penguins…

But Rockford didn’t want it to end like that. They get two goals rather quickly. Chris DiDomenico deflects in a shot from the point from Viktor Svedberg to make it 6-2 on a power play then Anthony Louis made it 6-3 with a nice give and go and goal. Here they are…

But time was the enemy of the pig and ran out on the visitors.

Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (two assists, +2) 2) Daniel Sprong (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Ethan Prow (three assists, +3)

Adam Johnson also recorded a multiple point night with a goal and an assist.

Around the Division: Syracuse beats Lehigh Valley 2-1…Providence beats Bridgeport 5-3…Springfield shuts out Charlotte 4-0 and Hershey wins their fifth straight with a 4-2 win over Hartford.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.670 percentage points) — Penguins (.657) — Providence (.632) — Charlotte (.573) — Bridgeport (.528) — Hartford (.509) — Hershey (.482) — Springfield (.464)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers are off until Sunday when they play the Adirondack Thunder.

Video Highlights: 

Penguins are bussing up to Syracuse overnight to stay as fresh as possible this weekend. It makes sense in a three in three. Wake up tomorrow in Syracuse then bus home and wake up in your own bed Sunday for a 3:05 start against Hershey.

Gameday setup for the game against the Crunch will hit the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

RAPID RECAP – Pens WIN 6-3

Comments Off on RAPID RECAP – Pens WIN 6-3 Posted by on February 23, 2018

Getting two leaders back in Tom Kostopoulos and Tom Sestito and three assists from Ethan Prow, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins power past the Rockford IceHogs 6-3 tonight.

Lehigh Valley lost 2-1 up in Syracuse. All this and more in a bit.

Rapid Recap

GAMEDAY: vs. Rockford 2/23

Comments Off on GAMEDAY: vs. Rockford 2/23 Posted by on February 23, 2018

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Who: Rockford IceHogs

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m.

Last Game: Sunday in Allentown against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Penguins lost 4-1. J-S Dea scored a shorthanded goal in the loss. For Rockford, the IceHogs hosted the San Antonio Rampage on Sunday and won 4-3. Three different IceHogs scored goals.

Record: For WBS: 30-15-4-1 (65 pts., 2nd place Atlantic Division) // For RFD: 26-22-3-3 (58 pts., 6th place Central Division)

Referee(s): Brandon Blandina / Luke Murray

Linesmen: Jason Mandroc / J.P. Waleski

Why You Should Care: Penguins face off against the IceHogs for the very first time in team history. Rockford is a hard working team that is better than their sixth place in the Central record would indicate. Wilkes-Barre, after a week of practice, should come out and play a lot better than they did last weekend and should hopefully have players back from injury.

Other Game to Watch: Lehigh Valley visits Syracuse. Penguins are there tomorrow.

Next Five Games: @ SYR 2/24, vs. HER 2/25, @ GR 3/2, @ RFD 3/3, @ MIL 3/4

Gameday

Weekend Setup – Peters, Schedule Strength, Primer, More…

Comments Off on Weekend Setup – Peters, Schedule Strength, Primer, More… Posted by on February 22, 2018

Figured I would drop in here and post about the week that was on Coal Street and set up the weekend.

Coal Street announced Wednesday what we speculated to for a while here, they have signed G Anthony Peters to an AHL contract through the 2018-19 season.

Certainly not unexpected, Peters played better on his second professional tryout contract (PTO) than he did on his first, he had a six game winning streak that included a shutout against Hershey.

Wilkes-Barre could not sign Peters to a third PTO, so the standard AHL contract is what he gets. Insuring his rights through next season is a no brainer as well. His ECHL club in Cincinnati retains his rights at that level.

Pittsburgh has two goalies in the pipeline, Filip Gustavsson and Alex D’Orio. One or both could filter here on ATO’s once their seasons are over. It may be different for Gustavsson since he’s playing over in Europe, I’m not totally sure. Good on Wilkes-Barre to sort of fill out one goalie spot for next season at the very least.

Updates from practice this week go as follows…

Tom summed it all up in one tweet…

Update from Thursday…

About them IceHogs. The Pens put together a nice primer on them you can read here. They are sixth place in the Central, which is probably the most competitive division top to bottom in the entire AHL. Rockford is 3-6-0-1 in their last ten. Roster consists of names that don’t really jump off the page. It’s a hard working team that is looking to come in and play an opponent they have never faced before. Pens can’t be slouches.

Pens hit the road to play a Syracuse team in fourth in the North that has kind of become the forgotten team in the division. It’s a four team race essentially, Syracuse is fourth but got a big boost this week when Tampa Bay reclaimed Gabriel Dumont off of waivers and assigned him to Syracuse.

Hershey visits Sunday. Bears have won three in a row and beat Toronto Monday. Hershey’s got a lot of ground to make up to push for a playoff spot but are on the right track.

Pittsburgh sent Teddy Blueger back to Wilkes-Barre Monday. Patric Hornqvist practiced Thursday in full and Tom Kuhnhackl will accompany the team on their road trip to Carolina and Florida this weekend, so Zach Aston-Reese may end up being reassigned for cap purposes. Stay tuned.

Out the door, the AHL Playoff Primer is out again for another year. Penguins magic number to clinch a playoff berth heading into the weekend is 40. Lehigh Valley’s magic number is 30, but they have five more games played than the Penguins right now and are in first place and are expected to have a lower number. Penguins have the third weakest strength of schedule, 6th (.542) out of 8 team division ahead of Charlotte (.540) and Lehigh Valley (.536) Getting to be that time of year again.

Back tomorrow for the 3 pm setup against Rockford as Wilkes-Barre begins another three in three weekend.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

AHL Power Rankings: Week 20

Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 20 Posted by on February 19, 2018

Playoff jockeying continues as we start to turn to the final full month of play before the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs begin in April. It’s Week 20 in the AHL and another edition of the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings.

We have a new number one this week. It’s those pesky Utica Comets. A 15 game point streak will do that for you.

Last weeks number one, Toronto, isn’t far behind, they fall to second after a bad loss (something that doesn’t happen often really) to the Belleville Senators Friday.

As a matter of Utica jumping to first and Toronto dropping down one, Tucson makes room and drops to third. Still leading the Pacific Division are the Roadrunners.

Lehigh Valley put some separation on the Penguins for the Atlantic Division lead, and remain fourth.

That sound you hear in the distance are the defending Calder Cup Champion Grand Rapids Griffins, who shutout the Manitoba Moose in back to back games in Winnipeg this weekend. Grand Rapids is in the top five this week.

To see six on beyond, click past the Griffins. Enjoy!

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 Last Week: SYR 3 @ UTI 2 (SO), BNG 1 @ UTI 3, UTI 5 @ WBS 4 (OT)
Comets are the new number one team this week based on the 15 game point streak that they are on. 8-0-1-1 in their last ten, 12-0-2-1 overall in the run and pesky.

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 This Week: @ BEL 2/19, vs. LV 2/21, vs. LAV 2/23, vs. SPR 2/24
Record: 28-14-6-4

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 Last Week: TOR 1 @ BEL 3, TOR 4 @ LAV 2
16 game point streak ends Saturday for the Marlies against a team that they thought could be sleepwalked past. Do they learn from it? We think so.

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 This Week: vs. HER 2/19, vs. BNG 2/21, @ RCH 2/23, vs. RCH 2/24
Record: 38-12-0-1

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 Last Week: TUC 2 @ SJ 4, BAK 4 @ TUC 5
Roadrunners 7-3 in their last ten has them in firm grip of the top spot in the Pacific and slowly moving away from the pack.

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 This Week: vs. BAK 2/19, vs. SA 2/23, vs. SA 2/24
Record: 28-15-2-1

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 Last Week: LV 5 @ BRI 0, LV 8 @ SPR 2, HFD 3 @ LV 2 (SO), WBS 1 @ LV 4
5 of 6 points for the Phantoms while Wilkes-Barre only managed one will give Lehigh Valley breathing room over their in state rival. But the Penguins will have an insane five games in hand come this Friday.

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 This Week: @ UTI 2/21, @ SYR 2/23, @ BNG 2/24
Record: 33-14-3-4

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 Last Week: GR 1 @ MTB 0, GR 5 @ MTB 0
Grand Rapids are back. They went to Winnipeg and shutout the Moose in back to back games.Three at home against more Central Division competition.

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 This Week: vs. CHI 2/21, vs. IA 2/24, vs. IA 2/25
Record: 28-18-1-6

Click through here to see teams 6 through 30

Power Rankings

Power Play Failure at PPL — Pens LOSE 4-1

Comments Off on Power Play Failure at PPL — Pens LOSE 4-1 Posted by on February 18, 2018

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I don’t think you can blame the fact that Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins lost three defensemen to injury Friday against Rochester in a blow out loss Friday or the war that they were in Saturday night in an overtime loss against the Utica Comets for this loss Sunday afternoon in Allentown.

Going 0-for-7 on the power play while your opponent goes 2-for-8 goes ahead of those actions I listed above.

Wilkes-Barre loses 4-1. 0-2-1 on the weekend that if you stack it all up, was a bad weekend because of the reasons I listed.

Lehigh Valley gets some breathing room now on the Penguins for first in the Atlantic, but the Penguin will have an insane five games in hand on the Phantoms when they play host to the Rockford IceHogs Friday night in Wilkes-Barre.

Games in hand mean nothing if you don’t win them, by the way.

Casey DeSmith opposed John Muse. Dustin Tokarski backed up, their parent team lost Michal Neuvirth to injury meaning Dustin Tokarski may head up to Philadelphia. I think Mark Dekanich is Phantoms property and he plays for Reading in the ECHL. We will see. Nothing is decided yet.

Lines were….

Thomas Di Pauli – J-S Dea – Reid Gardiner
Garrett Wilson – Jarett Burton – Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson – Greg McKegg – Joseph Cramarossa
Cody Wydo – Gage Quinney – Troy Josephs

Kevin Spinozzi – Ethan Prow
Jeff Taylor – Kevin Czuczman
Dylan Zink – Jarred Tinordi

Casey DeSmith – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: Troy Josephs replaced Patrick McGrath on the fourth line. That was the only change. Colin Blackwell was suspended two games by the AHL for his hit on Lukas Bengtsson Friday. Here is an alternative view of the hit.

First Period: Penguins had two power plays that they couldn’t score on. Lehigh Valley scores on theirs when Oskar Lindblom was the only one paying attention on the ice when a puck came right to him and he scored here to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead…

Greg Carey put two shots on DeSmith that the Penguins netminder saved, but everyone lost Lindblom who popped one in to give the Phantoms the lead. Casey DeSmith thought the puck ricocheted into the corner.

John Muse on the other hand, didn’t see much work in the first period but did stop the Penguins on a 3-on-1 and then later a shorthanded 2-on-1.

Second Period: Greg Carey scored to double the Phantoms lead. Puck in the corner to DeSmith’s left drew the attention of one too many Penguins, pass to Carey in the slot who didn’t miss.

Mike Vecchione scored a power play goal when he was in the right spot after a big shot from the point that DeSmith stopped, caromed right to him for the goal that made it 3-0 Phantoms.

Penguins weren’t moving their legs and it was costing them opportunities.

Third Period: Penguins keep the puck in as a four-on-four was about to turn into a penalty kill for the visitors. J-S Dea tipped in a shot from the point to bust up Muse’s shutout and gave Wilkes-Barre a rare shorthanded goal.

Wilkes-Barre misses two attempts at a power play, time dwindles, and the Phantoms hit an empty net with DeSmith pulled.

Three Stars: 3) Greg Carey (two assists, +2) 2) Travis Sanheim (two assists, even) and 1) John Muse (22 saves on 23 shots)

Around the Division: Bridgeport whitewashes a Hartford team that had a hellish week of travel 4-0…Syracuse splits the weekend series with Charlotte and beat the Checkers 3-1…Springfield beats Providence 3-2…Hershey was off.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.676 percentage points) — Penguins (.650) — Providence (.625) — Charlotte (.583) — Bridgeport (.538) — Hartford (.518) — Hershey (.462) — Springfield (.454)

Wheeling Update: With half of the Nailers regulars on the trip to Allentown with the Penguins today, results were about where you expected them to be. Wheeling was shutout 6-0 by the Reading Royals.

If Lehigh Valley puts out a highlight package it will run in this space.

Week 20 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog at noon Monday because of all the President’s Day games being played Monday afternoon. If you have the day off, unlike me, enjoy it.

Let’s Go Pens!

Postgamer

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